Finally Some Good News
Mike had a brain MRI and CT scan yesterday on Sunday, which was a weird experience but it was nice and quiet so that was good. We made it to our hotel room just in time to watch the Greenbay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks, so that was good too. Today Mike had bloodwork early and we met with his Oncologist Dr. Molina who gave us some more good news that all his blood work is pretty much in normal ranges, and the best news is that two of the METS on his brain are completely gone, one is much smaller and not as “dark”, and all the lung tumors have gotten smaller and less dense!!!🙌🏼🙏🏼🙌🏼 He was completely off Retevmo for two weeks and at half dose for the last two weeks due to super high liver enzymes so they are going to leave him at the smaller dosage for now since it seems to be doing the job. Driving home from Rochester with good news is not something we have gotten to enjoy much in the last 5 years so we are enjoying it!
We have had so many highs and lows with this cancer journey the past 21 years and we try to always trust God, but it’s human nature to try and “take control” of situations in our lives, and we are no exception. We have our moments when we get mad or sad, but those moments thankfully don’t last long and we always come back to the realization that we are NOT in control and we just have to have faith that God loves us and He knows what we are going through, why we are going though it and how it is going to end. We continue to pray for long, blessed lives that impact many people. We should all be grateful for every day that we get to live in the USA where we are still mostly free. I am going to steal some wise words from Chad Wright, who is a former Navy Seal and an endurance athlete who has a great podcast called the three of seven podcast. His latest IG post is great and he is talking about what we have been going through the past almost 2 years and he says “your fear of death consumes the very life you should have lived. The fullness of life cannot be lived in the shadow of impending death. Fear and timidity will prolong your miserable existence. Your life stops at their beginning.........he asks how us Christians can bear witness to the promise of eternal life when we can’t believe beyond the context of our own self preservation...... I love this and think it is so fitting for all of us, we need to start really living, not just going through the motions. We want to be running until the sand runs out!
We had a surprise 60th Birthday Party for Mike with just our immediate family but it was awesome and he loved it. We gave him a book called Dear Mike with letters to Mike from family, employees and friends, and it has lots of pictures it turned out so cool, and he said it is the best gift he’s ever gotten. A big thank you to our daughter in law Kelly for putting it all together!❤️
November is Lung Cancer Awareness month. I won’t bore you with all the grim statistics but just know that all you need to get lung cancer is lungs! Lung cancer is on the rise among non-smokers and especially in women so find out the early warning signs and see your doctor if you have any symptoms.
Lastly, thanks for all the well wishes, kind words and prayers. The prayers are working and we are forever grateful!
Be blessed,
Paula